


All His Lasts

by WriterOfSin



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Book 4: Balance, Book 4: Balance Ending, Character Death, Gore, Minor AU, Minor Korra/Asami Sato, Post-Book 4, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 15:07:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5053474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfSin/pseuds/WriterOfSin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Team Avatar and their allies seek to bring down Kuvira's Colossus, an accident seals Mako into the Spirit Vine reactor chamber. In the wake of the explosion, Team Avatar have to face up to what they fear most; losing one of their number forever. How will they deal with Mako's last day alive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	All His Lasts

**Author's Note:**

> So I sat down at the keyboard and thought I'd try something a little different. It took a while thanks to rustiness, but I'd like to think I've done a decent job of redeeming our man Mako. Always seemed like he was the red-headed stepchild of the show; a novelty at first, and then everyone just gets shot of them.
> 
> This is not just the first time I've written something fanfiction'y in years, but also the first first-person story I've done that I'm reasonably happy with. I think, and hope you guys all agree, that it's not bad. Is there room for improvement? Undoubtedly, and I hope people will not be shy in suggesting improvements.

**The Final Day - The Last Attack  
**

His hands are burning with muscle fatigue. The strain's too much. Mako's spent nearly the entire day using his bending, and he's starting to reach the end of his tether. The others all felt the same, and that was why this mission was their real last chance. Even if they did escape out of the mecha, what then? They can't hide somewhere to rest and come back for another go as it was a game of Pai Sho. Kuvira will be done by then, and there'll be nowhere for them to rest. That was why it has to be done now. It doesn't matter if the Chief and her sister can destroy the cannon, or if Korra manages to take Kuvira down, as long as he does this. Bolin's gone, hopefully dragging the two Empire mechanics down somewhere safe. Even fighting against the Red Lotus years, Mako has never had to pour out so much of himself into his bending, but he keeps going. He has to. For all he knows, Korra, Lin and Su could be slowed down enough to be unable to do anything long enough for Kuvira to flatten the city. A wry smile emerges onto parched lips. Yeah, right. As if he'd ever mention that to them. Having one of them kick his ass for doubting them would be bad enough, but all three? He'd rather try and raid the Triple Threat's stronghold single-handed. The smile blinks away, his teeth clenching together as the tips of his fingers start to blister. The floor beneath him wrenches, the walls echoing as if there was a thunderstorm inside the mecha's armour. It's enough to knock him off balance, if only for a moment. That moment's all it takes though, his right arm flashing out lightning still as he tries to stop himself sliding into the wall, and the sealed hatch is flash-burned shut by a stray streak, the air thick with the bitter tang of ozone as the metal starts to run in thick rivulets. He blinks in panic, sliding his tongue over his chapped lips before clucking it against his teeth. _'Guess I'm not finished with the work after all'_ , is all he can think of, and he laughs tiredly.

Not much longer now, he knows. Just a few more minutes. Please...just give him that. Let him do it, so that no-one else has to. He throws both arms back out, snarling at the world. At Varrick, for designing the damned weapon. At Kuvira for using the damned weapon. At the vines for being a damned weapon. A fierce purple light glitters, stabbing out clear through the hull above his head, and he ducks. Just a little more. His snarl turns into a scream as he lets the anger out, the source of his cold fire. The anger that had sustained him as a boy, against Triads for taking his parents, against his parents for being taken, against himself for every-time he's failed someone he loves. That's his pain, and that's the source of the cold fire. It's the only thing he's got left to give. It's got to be enough. Another beam arcs out, lashing into the useless safety lever Bolin had used earlier, melting it into ruined slag. The mecha tilts beneath his feet again and he falls down heavily, wincing as he feels the wind knocked out of him. The vines are shaking now, the green of their skin overwhelmed by the purple radiance, and for just a moment, Mako swears he can see a pocket of true nothingness. Just an empty point inside the heart of the vines, seeing it precisely because he can't see it. As the light flashes out, he lifts his right arm up to stave it off, and screams as it rushes out, pouring down on him like a tidal wave.

* * *

 

**The Final Day - The Search**

He wakes up to darkness. His hand lifts up gently, probing over his own body as if was a stranger's. There's metal weighing him down, crushing down on his ribs, and he bites back the gasp of pain as he tries to breathe deeply. The metal's trembling, as if someone's tramping about nearby. He can make out a voice, but not what it's saying. "Hello?" Mako wheezes, resting his hand on his stomach. There's something cold in his hand, pushing against his skin. His fingers probe a little deeper, just enough for him to realise what it's really done to him, and he howls in agony. He hates it, the sign of weakness, but this is too much. He can feel the blood over his skin now, the numbing effect of the adrenaline coursing through his veins wearing off with the shock of reality. Nothing for it. He grabs the metal shard embedded near his gut, pulling it out and howling again as he musters the effort for a final burst of flame, searing the wound. The voice is coming closer, and he can make it out now. "Mako! Mako! Where are you?! Mako?" The voice is screaming, but for all that he's so glad he can hear it.

"Here...here, Bolin." His brother's hands claw at the metal, tearing it away with all the force he can muster, and Mako's left blinking at the daylight. It takes him a moment to realise he still can't see out of his right eye, and he tries to lift that arm up to touch it. All he feels is the air flowing over his body, and he cranes his neck to the side. To the stump that had once been his flesh and bone.

"Mako," Bolin begins to ask him, "can yo-can you walk? Come on, we can get out of here. You can do it, easy bro."

"Can't...can't do it, Bolin." The look on his brother's face is too much to bear, and he looks away. "It'll be alright, yeah?" A hand reaches out, gently snagging the younger man's wrist. "We did it," he grins, breaking off into a cough, and he snatches his hand back over his mouth, staring at the flecks of blood covering his palm. "Yeah...yeah we did it."

Bolin stares down at his brother. "I need to get you help. Come on," his hands reach out, but Mako shrugs them off.

The ash-streaked head shakes slowly, as if he can barely move it, and his voice wavers. "Bolin, don't, please. Don't let them see me like this."

His brother looks down at him, puffy eyes just staring blankly before he waves down Mako's objection. "No! No, they have to! And it'll be okay," Bolin said, wiping his face with the back of his hand, just making the smell of sulphur even stronger in his own nose. "It'll be okay, because they're going to fix you up." He refuses to listen to Mako's voice, sliding an arm under his knees and under his shoulders, hauling him up with the ease of years of weight training. "I'll get you the best." The light. There has to be someone at the light. _Korra_? By the spirits, please let her be there. Bolin needs her.

* * *

**The Final Day - The Last Talk**

"I'm so glad you're alright!" That's the only warning she gets before a pair of arms sweep over her, hugging her so tightly that she thinks they've got the strength of a polarbear-dog like Naga.

She's just happy to be out, to have had Kuvira defeated and handed over to Lin and Su, and she hugs back. "Asami! I'm so glad you're okay." She gazes at her friend's pained face, her hands on her cheeks, stroking them softly with her thumbs. "I'm so sorry about your dad. He helped us so muc-" Korra's head snaps up as she hears the crunch of rubble under heavy boots.

 _Bolin_? He was carrying something in his broad arms, she could tell, but she couldn't make it out. "Korra, help! Help him, please!"

"Hey, slow down Boli-Is that Mako?" Asami was beside her in a moment, the pair of them crouching down as the earthbender set down the blackened body gently. She looked away for a moment, the scent of charred flesh filling her nose. Her hands set down on his chest, probing gently, making sure to stay away from the open gouge that broke the toned stomach, tracing along the fractal flower of broken blood vessels that had bloomed under his skin. At any other time, Korra would admire the artistry in it, but all she can see is the pain it's etched onto his body. "Did we win?" he asks her.

She nods, not wanting to say anything. She doesn't want to risk say anything for fear that he'll realise how bad the wounds are. Her fingers trace along the cut in his stomach, feeling like it'd been roasted on a spit. "You cauterised it?"

He nods slowly in reply. "As quick as I could, and only on the outside...hard to know what to do when it's all inside your body." A slight smirk preys on his red-ruined face. "I know I'm supposed to set hearts on fire, but," he rocks upright, gasping for air, slowly settling back down with Korra's hands to guide his head, "I didn't want to do it for real."

She sniffles, smiling at him. "You big jerk." "Always told you Bo was the nice guy." She looks up, nodding Asami to take Bolin to one side. It's a sign of his worry and his tiredness that the big lavabender doesn't object.

She sees him cough again, the blood he's spitting up with it. That's not the worst of it. His right arm is gone, reduced to a stump at his shoulder. Half the hair on his head has been burnt off, and his right eye is a horrific melted mess. Her fingers trace along the flower again, following it up to his breastbone, sighing as she feels the weak, thready pumping of his heart. She still can't figure out how he's breathing, especially with the wound in his stomach. "Korra," he calls to her. "It's okay. I know you can't do anything."

"But I should be able to!" she whispers, hands kneading together nervously.

"No, you can't. Honest," he murmurs. "If you didn't know, I can feel it. There's blood...in my lungs. Must've broken a rib or five." His lips twitch for a moment as if he's about to laugh, but he closes his eye for a moment. "It feels like I'm drowning, and I can't swim out to the surface. You can't help me swim out of this one." His outstretched finger pokes her in the knee. "Let Bo down...gently. It's not fair on him otherwise."

Silently she nods, looking away from the broken wreck of his body, catching Asami's eye to beckon her over as she slips over to Bolin, standing over him. "Bolin." Her hand stroked his shoulder, with a gentle urgency. "Bolin...I can't do anything. He's hurt too badly."

"But you're the Avatar! Do the glowing eyes! Please, just save him! He's al-" his voice caught in his throat as he looked up at her with those sad eyes, "he's all I have left."

Her heart feels like it's tearing apart as she looks back at him, and she's blinking back tears herself, seeing Asami gently stroking Mako's forehead over his brother's shoulder. "Even if I did that," she sighs, "it won't make the healing any better. He's been hurt far too much." She hesitates, not sure whether to carry on, and hates herself as she starts talking again, "his heart's only barely working, and he's still bleeding inside his body. I can't fix that unless someone cuts him open. Even spirit water from the portal won't change that." Korra looks down, feeling like she was having a nightmare like the ones that had plagued her for the past few years. "And if we did do that, it'd kill him anyway."

Bolin's head falls into his arms, his knees brought up as he hugs them. He stays like that for what seems like an eternity, and Korra watches him, the tears beginning to shimmer down her cheeks. She has to see him like this. What else could she do? His pain was her fault. All the effort in breaking the hold that so many had put her under, that she was too outdated and unwanted by the world, that she wasn't worthy of her power, that she wasn't useful, and all she'd done was ruin the world...all to take back her powers, her self-confidence after years of struggling. And she couldn't save one man's life. Bolin starts shifting beside her, eyes looking off into the distance at the portal. The shimmering light brightens the sky, but it only makes the ruins more noticeable. The wreckage of their home, the city that they'd lived in for over twenty years alone. "He's not going to go. Not like this." He springs up, turning his back on Korra and stalks through the scattered bricks and tiles on the ground to Mako.

"Hey, Bo."

"Hey yourself, bro," Bolin smiles back at the joke. "Come on." His hands reach down, wrapping around his brother, and he picks up gently, no trace of his usual clumsiness about it.

"What're you doin', Bo?" Mako's starting to slur his words now. Korra feels her hand gripping Asami's shoulder, and a moment later slender fingers latch around her own bruised and sore fingers.

"I want you to see something, Mako." He starts to trot towards the portal, sure-footedly stepping over broken rubble and shattered pieces of dead vines. Hesitating at the very edge, he wavers for a moment, before setting his head down and striding through it. He doesn't have to see them to know that Korra and Asami have followed, and he's the happier for it. He doesn't want to do this on his own. The sky's a blue as deep as the waters of the Mo Ce Sea, but the ground is covered in a lush green field, slowly melding with hundreds of purple flowers that twinkle with a pale blue light. The lights all melt together in the reflection of the huge ice mountains that surround the portal, tall enough to rival most towers in Republic City it seems.

Bolin carries on walking, dusty boots swishing through the flowers as he picks his way to the foot of a leafless tree. It should look dead and still, but there's a vibrancy to it nonetheless, and he sets his brother down at the foot of it. "This is beautiful," Mako smiles through blackened lips. "Thanks...Bolin." His head nods for a moment, starting back up as he blinks his eye open. "Bo, I need to talk to the others. Can you do that for me?"

The younger man nods, the corners of his mouth twitching up in a sad smile as he stands back up and walks away. "Korra, Asami. Mako wants to talk to you both." They pat him gently, reassuringly, as they pass.

"You two are a sight for sore eyes," he says, starting to wheeze in a dismal echo of laughter, "eye, anyway. My two favourite ladies."

"I should hope so, you big jerk," Asami smiles, giving his hand a brief squeeze.

"Glad to hear it finally," he smiles up at them, "But now I'd like you two to listen to me, please. I know."

"Know what?" Korra looks back at him with a puzzled expression.

"Don't be stupid," Mako looks back at her. "I know how happy you two are with each other. And I know that either of you probably wouldn't make a move unless someone forces you into it, so I guess that's gotta be me."

"How?" Asami asks. The mascara on her eyes is starting to drop down her cheek slowly, but she doesn't lift a finger to clean it. Korra glances at her. It's the first time she's ever heard Asami acknowledge that there's something there, something that neither of them have never dared to even think about in the other's presence.

"I pay attention," he coughs, turning his head away from the pair, "and I know the two of you." His hand lifted out of Asami's for a moment, patting down the lesser-burnt side of his jacket, finally reaching into a pocket. "I was so mad with the pair of you...kept thinking that unless someone made you both realise that you were right for each other, you'd keep ending up with the wrong people. I'm a detective, remember?" His eye closes for a moment. "I told you both that I love you, and I do. So please...just stop dancing around it. Admit it...and be happy." Korra looked at Asami, her heart catching as she saw her own feelings reflected in the other woman's eyes. Their hands touched, clenching together.

"Thank you, Mako," she smiled back at him, her lips gently pressing to his forehead. "Love you."

Asami presses her lips down on his head as well, her free hand stroking over his labouring chest. "I love you too, Mako. For this...for everything."

"What's a guy to do otherwise?" A taut smile frames his lips for a moment. "I love you both," he pauses as he stops for a deep breath. "But I need you to go and get Bolin. Man-to-man chat, right?" ' _Guess I had one more thing to give, after all_ ,' he thinks with a triumphant smirk. They go and fetch him, standing back as Bolin jumps up to return to his brother. They can just see the two talking, too far back to hear it. They owe the brothers this much. Mako pulls his hand out of his pocket, but whatever it is, Bolin's in the way, blocking the view. They stand there like that, waiting as the minutes stretch out, until Bolin's voice begins to wail through the dark starry sky. His hands clutch the body to his chest, Mako's eye closed for the last time, and Bolin's, big, honest, broad face is etched with tears, his cheeks flushing red as he lets out the emotions he'd dammed up so much. They drop down on each side of him, holding him, crying together. Korra's fingers stroke Bolin's singed hair, Asami's pale arm wrapped around his, trying to give him the comfort that words can't. They stay like that until the stars fade into twilight.

* * *

 

**One Week Later**

"True love is a fickle creature," he begins. "Difficult to find, nearly impossible to tame." He looks pointedly at Kai and Jinora, smiling slightly as the younger boy shifts in embarrassment, his girlfriend nudging him with a smirk of her own. "But Varrick and Zhu Li have proven that even the longest of long shots can have a chance at happiness together." Bolin's eyes flicker to the side, sliding over Korra and Asami as they sat together, the empty chair besides them digging at his heart. "Now, for the vows!" he shouts cheerily. He goes to Opal after it's all done, seeking the comfort of her arms, the solace of her perfumed scent, the knowledge that she's still there and he can hold her safe as if it were forever.

"It'll be okay, sweetheart," he hears her murmur softly. He can't help but squeeze his eyes tightly shut. He doesn't want tears to ruin this moment. They dance slowly under the moonlight, surrounded by loved ones and friends, and Bolin wishes it could never end. He opens them, looking for the people he wants, no, that he _needs_ to see. They're sat together under the temple gate, looking down over the water.

"I need to go and do something, Opal. I'll be back in a moment." He pulls away, smiling down at her and laughing as Meelo spins in, insisting he can dance with Opal while Bolin's away.

"Thanks, kid," he beams down at the grinning airbender before picking his way past dancing guests. He waits until they finish talking, folding his arms and smiling like he hasn't done for days at the sight of them holding each other's hands. Asami's the first to turn around, jumping slightly.

"Oh spirits! Sorry Bolin, you startled us."

Korra turns around as she talks, smiling as she sees Bolin's face. "Totally worth it, though," he replies, nodding down at their hands, still tangled together. "He was right all along. And I'm so glad he was."

The pair pick themselves up. "Well," Korra coughs, "I'm glad he was too." Looking sidelong at Asami, she squeezes her fingers fondly.

"Me too," Asami giggles.

"Ma-" he hesitates for a moment, not sure if he can say the name. He breathes in, looking past them at the Portal as it dominated the night-sky, and carries on. "...Mako, asked me to do something. I mean give you something!" He shakes his head with a laugh, hand digging into his pockets.

He pulls out two brass rings, fingers splayed wide to show them to the women. Broad fingers delicately pluck one of them off his palm, and he offers it to Korra. "This one's yours." He repeats the process for Asami. "And that's yours," he smiles.

"What are they?" she asks, an eyebrow arching in surprise.

"Mako wanted you two to remember what he said. There's something you need to see on the inside of them." The two women flip their rings over, peering at the delicate calligraphy inside, and Asami strokes her finger on the inscription etched inside its band.

_'愛與誠信永遠持續下去。用我的愛，真子'_

She chokes up, lifting a hand to her mouth to stifle the sob. Before she can ask the question she wants to, Korra beats her to it. "When...how, even, did he get these?"

Bolin shrugs. "When he asked you two to get me, he gave me his badge. Said he 'wouldn't need it where he was going'." He casts his eyes down. "I asked Lin to help me make them, after we had the funeral. She bent the metal, I just did the etching."

"They're beautiful," Korra smiles. It falters for a moment as she looks back up at him, pausing before she talks, "When are you taking his ashes?"

"Me and Opal are going in the morning. He...he always wanted to see Bì Huǒ Bay in the Fire Nation. There's these gas deposits under the water that flare up when they get set on fire by the thermal springs, and the water turns green." Bolin's hands bunched into tight fists. "He always said they reminded him of Mom's eyes." He sighs, and smiles again. "So, what are you guys planning?"

"We were thinking of going away. The Spirit World. I mean, it is right there..." Korra's voice trails off as she remembers the last time the three of them had entered it. But Bolin's face doesn't show a shadow of that moment. He just grins, picking them up in his arms and hugging them so close they feel themselves leaving the ground.

"I'm glad to hear that," he says as he puts them down gently.

"Easy, Bo!" Asami laughs. "You know we're both going to come and see you two off, right? It's the least we could do."

He just sniffles. "Thanks, guys. It means a lot to me...and I know it'd mean a lot to Mako." He shuffles away, grinning at them over his shoulder. "Gotta run, don't want Meelo to trot off with Opal. Night!"

"Night, Bolin!" the pair chorus, looking at each and laughing at the echo. Their fingers lace together, and Asami draws Korra into her embrace. "I'm so glad," she whispers, "that he helped."

She can hear Korra huffing. "It's not going to be the same without him, 'sami."

"I know," she says softly. "But we'll be dealing with it together." Her lips press down to the dark ones of her lover, and the two of them know that this is a moment they'll never forget, as they kiss under the portal's light shimmering against the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> As you can tell, I chose not to depict Mako's funeral. Ye gods, it was bad enough writing his death, no doubt thanks to the fact that along with most of Avatar: Legend of Korra's main characters, he's one of my favourite cartoon characters.
> 
> Now, as a word of warning, all translations were done via Google Translate since I don't have Mandarin or Cantonese dictionaries.  
> I - For those curious, the calligraphic etching on the inside of the rings (should) say; 'Love and Honesty last forever. With my love, Mako'  
> II - Bì Huǒ Bay in English would be 'Jadefire Bay', according to the translation.


End file.
